Basin and Range volcanism as a passive response to extensional tectonics
Putirka K and Platt B. 2012. Basin and Range volcanism as a passive response to extensional tectonics. Geosphere. 8(6):1274-1285
A long-standing issue in Cordilleran geology involves the nature of Basin and Range (western USA) volcanism, and whether such magmatism provides a trigger for extensional deformation, or if volcanic activity is a passive response to extension. We use space-time-composition patterns across the central and southern Basin and Range, and where appropriate, reconstructed latitudes and longitudes of volcanic rocks, to show that volcanism is fundamentally a passive process.